4-H and schools: The partnership continues

Richmond County 4-H and Richmond County Schools have been partners in teaching our area’s youth for decades. Some of our collective efforts include 4-H Embryology, Steps to Health, and Science Adventures. This year the partnership is strengthening and offering youth more learning opportunities than ever before! All students enrolled in summer school for grades K-5 will be a part of this collaborative effort to give our students amazing, hands-on science experiments, life skills, engineering opportunities, and field trips.

Richmond County 4-H has made this possible by providing the necessary materials in summer school classrooms to carry out each experiment and lesson. All curriculum and activities, along with the materials needed to do each lesson, are being given directly to summer school instructors by Richmond County 4-H. Teachers are being trained on over 20 4-H activities and curriculums and will use their content knowledge to teach these activities daily. 4-H’s slogan, “Learn by Doing,” will be exactly what kids do this summer. They will build, create, design, make, paint, and do various activities that foster critical thinking and other life skills such as collaboration, decision making skills, and problem solving.

Each week of summer school has a learning theme such as going to the beach, going to the amusement park, “walking on the wild side”, soaring into space, camping, and flying into the future. Each 4-H activity will be based around the theme. For example, the week we focus on the beach, youth will be making kites, sailboats, doing sinking and floating experiments, learning about shark teeth and fossils, tracking hurricanes, and learning about sea turtles and the impacts marine debris has on the ocean. Other weeks’ activities include making a balloon powered car, dissecting owl pellets, making butter, building marshmallow catapults, tying knots, and learning about financial literacy.

Richmond County Schools has done a great job of creating an amazing summer school experience for our kids and Richmond County 4-H is proud to be a part of the learning and experiences kids will have this summer. Summer School spots are filling up quickly. If you have not enrolled your child in summer school but are interested in doing so, please contact your school’s office.

If you do not plan to enroll your child in summer school but are interested in some of these, or other 4-H activities and opportunities this summer, call Catherine Shelley, Richmond County 4-H Agent at 910-417-0258. You can find more information about Richmond County 4-H at Richmond.ces.ncsu.edu or on the Richmond County Extension Facebook page.